Love is in the air in RIFT… or is it? Most MMOs have an in-game event to coincide with Valentine’s Day, and this year was no different for Trion. February 13’s hotfix introduced the Festival of Mariel-Taun and the contagious “Love Bug”. The Bug has somewhat surprisingly proven to be a hot topic on the official forum, both for and against the effect.

The Love Bug looks pretty mild in the patch notes. Characters are “smitten” by the Bug, which poses no immediate danger. Players can remove the Bug by right-clicking on the effect’s symbol in your status bar, which leaves you vulnerable to contracting it again immediately, or they can infect three other people, which guarantees immunity for one hour.

February is here, Valentine’s Day is approaching, and you know what that means. Those of us who are single get to happily avoid the pink-and-ballooned aisle of our local store! Well, aside from that, of course. There might be some /kissing going on, and not just outside of Telara, but in Telara, as well. In this past weekend’s update on the Public Test Server, some new holiday achievements appeared in the World Event section. And yes, it seems there will be some /kissing. And some killing! And some kind of Love Bug… thing. Read on to take a look.

21,879 marriages took place in Rift™ on Valentine’s Day, setting the Guinness World Record® title for most in-game marriages in 24 hours

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. – Feb. 16, 2012 – Trion Worlds, the leading publisher and developer of premium games for the connected era, announced today that players of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Rift™, set the world record for the most in-game marriages in a 24-hour period. Officially recorded for the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition®, 21,879 marriages were confirmed between 9am PST, Feb. 14 and 9am PST, Feb. 15.